Attendees at a recent core workshop hosted by the West Texas Geological Society were able to put their hands on what could be the Permian Basin’s next frontier.

The cores came from the San Andres formation, where a number of companies are working out the technology to produce from residual oil zones — the oils left behind millions of years ago when the waters of what was then the Permian Sea flowed eastward.

Steve Melzer of Melzer Consulting, who has worked on two ROZ projects for the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, calls it “Mother Nature’s waterflood.” At the core workshop he presented a progress report on development projects around the Permian.

“There were a number of new companies present for the core workshop that we haven’t seen before,” Melzer said in a phone interview. “I suspect some have acreage and some are trying to figure the play so they can go get acreage.”

He said there are other formations holding the zones, which are often found under existing fields.

“But I think if you go by oil, the San Andres is the big plum — there’s lots of oil in place,” Melzer said. “If you can find oil with some gas in it, you’re off and running.”

The search for the zones has drawn some companies because the Delaware and Midland subbasins are “pricing some out of the game,” he said.

But the search has also drawn large producers such as Occidental Petroleum and Kinder Morgan, which has a very active program in its Tall Cotton field in Gaines County.

“Kinder Morgan has 400-plus feet of ROZ and they’re flooding it all,” Melzer said. “As you can see, they’re making lots of oil and that’s still going up. They’re so excited they’re moving on to Phase II.”

He said the Manzano field in Yoakum County that extends south into Andrews County is an ROZ play that was started by Forge Energy. It now includes companies such as Pacesetter and Elk Meadows.

He has seen the play grow from being localized in western Yoakum County to a much larger area, even spreading to Chaves and Roosevelt counties in southeastern New Mexico. Rockcliff Operating in New Mexico is expected to file soon its first potential reports on ROZ wells in that state, he said.

“It takes a while, but they waited to potential the well after the oil comes in,” Melzer said, explaining that, as a rule it takes 30 days for an ROZ well to begin making oil.

“There really haven’t been any dry holes -- just lesser-productive wells,” he said. “Like most plays, there are the really sweet spots and some that are not as good.”

Those operating in the play are utilizing horizontal drilling technology, combined with enhanced oil recovery techniques such as waterflood or carbon dioxide flooding, Melzer said.

“The beauty of this horizontal well era that we’re in is that it’s opened our eyes to the possibilities of new projects,” he said.

Estimates for the oil in place in these zones range from 300 billion barrels to Melzer’s estimate of 800 billion to 1 trillion barrels.